For the past few weeks, Lauren Jacobson, a 31-year-old American nurse, has been overseeing the sending of around fifty packages containing abortion pills daily. On most packages, however, the delivery address indicates a state in which abortions are prohibited, such as Texas.
For the young woman, who prescribes these pills herself as part of a teleconsultation, it is an “active form of resistance”. “People in Texas have the same human rights and deserve the same access to care as those in Connecticut,” she told AFP.
This new access route is coordinated by the activist organization Aid Access. Between mid-June and mid-July, it enabled 3,500 people living in states where abortions are illegal to receive abortion pills prescribed by seven American caregivers.
If these health professionals decided to participate, it is because they practice in one of the five American states that have adopted so-called “shield” laws, Massachusetts, Colorado, Vermont, New York and Washington.
These laws protect them in the event of prosecution by states where abortion is prohibited: any extradition or transmission of documents will be refused, and their license to practice or professional insurance cannot be threatened.
But their commitment is risky, despite this “shield”.
One day “someone will ask justice to pronounce on these laws”, explains Lauren Jacobson, who believes that she could one day be prosecuted “for murder” in Texas.
As a precaution, she no longer goes to states where the right to abortion has been restricted, about fifteen in total.
“There is indeed a risk for all of us, we take it knowingly,” adds the nurse, whose profession is authorized to perform abortions in Massachusetts.
The situation is emblematic of the battle between progressive and conservative states since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion in June 2022.
With these “shield laws” the Democratic states can largely limit the scope of the bans decreed in the Republican states, especially if more doctors join the movement. California could also pass a similar law in the fall.
Before their establishment, the Aid Access association was already active, but the prescriptions were made by its founder, a Dutch doctor. Result: very long delivery times, up to several weeks, with the pills being sent from India.
Since American caregivers took over in mid-June, delivery only takes a few days, “because we can send them from the United States”, explains Linda Prine, a New York doctor to AFP. also engaged with Aid Access. “And the earlier the abortion is performed, the safer it is.”
No video consultation is required. Caregivers review medical information filled out by patients on the organization’s website. The pills are prescribed up to 13 weeks of pregnancy, and taken at home.
The service costs $150, a price adjusted in case of financial hardship.
According to Linda Prine, almost a quarter of patients can’t pay the full amount, “so you can imagine why they can’t travel to a Democratic state for their abortion.”
For Lauren Jacobson, online messaging is certainly not “ideal” for dealing with patients she would like to be able to counsel in person. “But is it safe? Yes, it is.”
She recounts the case of a teenager, pregnant after a rape: “I ask her if she is safe at home, I offer a phone call, but she is not obliged to accept”, regrets the nurse. “The best thing I can do for her is make sure she doesn’t have to carry a pregnancy on top of what she’s going through.”
For women themselves, the legal risks of taking these pills in conservative states are reduced.
“Laws prohibiting abortion mainly target people who perform abortions”, and often contain “a clause specifying that the pregnant person cannot be prosecuted”, explained to AFP Elizabeth Ling, of the If/When association. /How, which offers legal advice to women having abortions alone.
Despite everything, prosecutions remain possible, because some prosecutors sometimes hijack other laws (feticide, child abuse, etc.). Minorities are more likely to be targeted, she warns.
Maintaining the vagueness of the risks involved is part of a “tactic” of the conservative camp, according to Lauren Jacobson. Fear “pushes people to silence” and “caregivers are afraid to practice this care openly”.
Linda Prine, she does not say “not very worried”.
“I can live without traveling to Mississippi or Alabama,” she laughs. “Give me the list, I’ll stay away.”
29/07/2023 11:05:44 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
